Eighty-one motorists in Ruddington have been caught speeding on the streets, thanks to the village’s Community Speedwatch team.
Members of the group wearing hi-vis have notched up ten roadside sessions since June. Now more volunteers are needed to widen the scope of the scheme and monitor more streets.
Some of the Speedwatch crew were on Ruddington Parish Council’s stall at the village market on Saturday 5 October to talk to residents and recruit more members.
Over the four months the sessions have been run, one motor biker was caught on the speed gun riding at 93mph on Wilford Road. The group missed the bike’s registration number the first time but they rode back, speeding again. That time they got the number.
Another driver was travelling at 66mph on the same stretch during the rush hour in July. The speed limit is 30mph.
The most vehicles monitored (1,200) was on Clifton Road in June. Other sites, all authorised by Notts Police, were on Loughborough Road, Distillery Street and Easthorpe Street.
The volunteers are armed with a speed gun, paperwork, hi-vis jackets and yellow signs.
The forms, which are sent to Nottinghamshire Police, ask for reg numbers, colour, make and model, time and the speed they were travelling.
Volunteer Margaret Burrell, who has been joined by five other residents on the sessions, said more volunteers would make a big difference. She said: “Our focus is to keep our village streets safe. We have a direct effect on the driving habits of car, van and lorry drivers. As soon as most of them see our yellow Speedwatch signs, they slow down to the speed limit.
“If we had more people to train up and help us then we could check more areas. We need suggestions as to where the speeding hotspots are in the village. There are going to be dark nights soon when the clocks go back and schoolchildren need to be safe walking to and from school.”
Margaret said she had been shocked by the behaviour of drivers and riders over the summer. She said: “When you record speeds in excess of 40 mph after the driver has slowed down, on side streets, you wonder just how fast they would’ve been driving had they not seen us.
“We’ve also seen multiple examples of people turning right off the A60 onto Easthorpe Street to avoid the road works, totally ignoring the ‘No Right Turn’ signs.
“I’m heartened that we get a lot of friendly waves and thumbs up from drivers. Some of them park up and walk over to thank us.
“It’s sad when they tell us about the terrible near misses and accidents they have witnessed all because the drivers are in a hurry.”
Ruddington Parish Council clerk Claire Dorans, who organised the volunteers’ training with Notts Police, said she was grateful to the Speedwatch team.
She said: “They have done a great job over the summer at highlighting a big problem. We would love drivers to know that they can’t get away with speeding through our village.
“We hope to offer more training later in the year so please get in touch with the parish office at [email protected] if you wish to help.”